All Just a Game
by SilverWolf7
Summary: A fic written for Challenge5 for Marigold.  Merry and Pippin and some of the thoughts and feelings they had before, at and after the Black Gate.  Also a little of Frodo and Sam after the Battle of Middle Earth is won.


Disclaimer - I don't own any of these characters. They all belong to J. R. R. Tolkein. I will put them back, unharmed after the call of this challenge has been answered.  
  
A/N - If this offends anyone or if I got anything wrong which I am probably bound to do I am sorry and I apologise. I have a habit of mixing both the books and movie, and as such usually name all my LotR fics as AU.  
  
All Just a Game  
  
Pippin smiled as he looked down at the sleeping Meriadoc. All good memories he had seemed to have faded somewhat.  
  
Now all he seemed to have were bad memories of war, Dark Lords and fighting for not only his own survival, but that of the entire world as he knew it.  
  
Merry frowned in his sleep, suddenly caught in a nightmare. Pippin, not wanting his best friend to suffer woke the older Hobbit up, gently shaking one shoulder.  
  
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Merry woke with a start, but at seeing Pippin was there smiled warmly. Soon the two Hobbits were wrapped up in a hug. It felt like forever since they had seen each other.  
  
Merry had been outside the city, fighting in the thick of it all with Eowyn.  
  
Pippin had been on the inside, and by his own fault had sworn fealty to the Steward, therefore had donned a uniform of the Gondor army and had joined in the fighting himself.  
  
Neither of the Hobbits thought that they would see the other ever again.  
  
"Have you heard?" Pippin asked, "We are to go to the Black Gates themselves to give Frodo and Sam enough time to destroy the Ring?"  
  
Merry closed his eye and shook his head. "Now I have. I hope that Frodo destroys the thing before we even get there..." Even as he said it, he knew it wouldn't be true.  
  
"At least in this fight, we will be together." Pippin stated, squeezing Merry's hand.  
  
Merry smiled then and nodded. "At least we will be able to be together at the end." A frown then formed. "Do you think we will survive?"  
  
Pippin tried to smile, to give hope to his friend, but didn't succeed. "In a way, that isn't important...Frodo destroying the One Ring, that is all that matters now. If we die, and by that give them the one chance they need, it would all be worth it. The world would be safe again."  
  
Merry sighed loudly. "But we won't be able to see it. The world being safe once again that is. I would like to go back home..."  
  
A short silence crept up on them then, thick and uncomfortable, before Pippin broke it. "Maybe you will. It may be that we will walk amongst our own folk again, in the Shire. I miss home..."  
  
Merry sat up on the bed he was in and laid a hand on the youngest member of the Fellowship's shoulder. "All we can do is hope for the best."  
  
With that Pippin did smile, nodding his head in agreement.  
  
A few hours passed in which the two Hobbits shared their adventures of the fight for Gondor, both terribly glad to have gotten through alright.  
  
It was as the comfortable silence they had fallen into was broken by the opening of the door that reality seemed to take over once again.  
  
Gandalf stood there, tall and white and magnificent to behold, a smile ready on his face just for the two younger members of the Fellowship.  
  
"We leave in two days for the Gates." The Wizard stated, seeing the colour drain from both their faces. Frowning slightly at this, Gandalf made a decision and hoped the Hobbits went with the right answer. "You can stay here if you so wish."  
  
At that, both Merry and Pippin's eyes grew misty with want. Oh how they longed to just go home to the Shire and forget about the rest of the world and its troubles.  
  
Both knew that they had gone too far already and with determined minds both stated so to the Wizard.  
  
"We shall stay and fight." Merry stated, Pippin nodding his head in agreement.  
  
"For all that is right, good and for Frodo." Pippin added, seeing the light the comments brought to Gandalf's eyes.  
  
"I must say, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, knights valiantly fighting for the greater good! Hobbits always seem to be able to surprise me."  
  
With that Pippin took the old Wizard around the middle in a hug, smiling the whole time as if being praised by a strict parent. "Not too bad for a fool of a Took." He muttered as he let go.  
  
With that, all three laughed. Pippin hopped onto the bed with Merry and hugged the other Hobbit close.  
  
"There is always a bright side to everything, right Gandalf?" Pippin stated, turning his head in the Wizards direction. "If what you told me about death is true for Hobbits as well, then there could be worse things."  
  
With a polite nod and a quick farewell, the Wizard then left the two Hobbits to talk.  
  
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"I am beginning to think that this is all a game..." Merry stated to his best friend. "Something along the lines of Chess."  
  
Pippin looked next to him from his place in line, a puzzled expression on his face. "What makes you say that?"  
  
Merry shrugged and smiled slightly. "Well, you have good people...I guess it doesn't matter what race just as long as they are good. Then you have your bad people. Orcs and such."  
  
"Both start on opposite sides of the field and try to eliminate the other side, while losing their own. People die and they are off the board."  
  
"We have a lot less starting pieces don't we?" Pippin replied, his voice downcast as he thought of how badly the odds were stacked against them.  
  
Merry nodded, face grim, but a strange spark lit his eyes. "Perhaps, but we have two pieces already on the other side that haven't been spotted yet. If they manage to do what it is they set out to do, then no matter how many die here today, how many pieces we lose, we win."  
  
Pippin turned to look at Merry, a small smile on his face as he waited up front with the rest of the Fellowship, dressed as a warrior of Gondor. "At least we get to go through this last battle together. Maybe we will still be on the board by the time the game is over?"  
  
Merry glanced back, the helm of his Rohirrim uniform blocking some of the view of his eyes from the younger. "Sure we will, Pip. After all, we still have Frodo and Sam. They are close now, ready to end this once and for all."  
  
Both Hobbits nodded, before turning their sights back to the now-imminent fight for their world. The Black Gates had just started to open, spilling the evil foes into their sights.  
  
With a loud cry, they both rushed headlong into the fight, hoping to take down as many as possible.  
  
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The fight was over. Unexpectedly, they had won with far fewer deaths than they could have imagined.  
  
Frodo and Sam had been successful in destroying the ring.  
  
Celebrations were everywhere as the remaining warriors of Rohan and Gondor treasured their lives still being intact. The Elves that had helped were just as happy, but were a whole lot more quiet in their celebrations, except perhaps for Legolas, who had gone off with Gimli.  
  
Merry and Pippin had been not in the mood for once. They had seen the mountain erupt, pouring forth its lava and ash. Nobody without help from very high places could have survived that.  
  
Pippin found himself strangely getting used to losing people as he had seen hundreds die in front of him. But Frodo and Sam...it was even more painful than the time they had thought Gandalf dead and never coming back.  
  
Sniffing slightly, he turned to his side, wishing that his two good friends would come back just as the Wizard had done. He didn't think that possible though.  
  
His thoughts turned to what life was like before he had agreed to go on this quest. Lord Elrond had been reluctant to let him go, and had thought of putting another Elf in his place.  
  
Somehow he had made his way into the Fellowship and had stayed in it all the way from start to finish. Even though the fight for their world was over, he only now truly wished that Lord Elrond had decided to add in another Elf instead of himself. He would still be innocent then, not knowing death, or war, or hard times.  
  
Sighing, he turned again, staring out the window of the room he had been given. A speck was seen on the horizon and Pippin recognized it as one of the giant eagles who had come and helped in the last battle. Soon, that one speck became two, then three, as the eagle lord and his two friends came gliding towards Minas Tirith.  
  
In two of the huge birds' talons, there were small figures. As the eagles came closer he was able to recognise them.  
  
With a shout of horror mingled with a bit of hope, he ran out of his guest room and began yelling to anyone who he met about what he had seen. He knew the birds were good and would not eat his friends, he couldn't help but notice that they had been limp and lifeless though.  
  
The first member of the Fellowship he ran into was thankfully Gandalf, who knew the Eagle King.  
  
Quickly relaying the news of what he had seen, he and Gandalf went about finding the rest of the Fellowship and waited for the birds to land, before taking the two unconscious Hobbits to the Houses of Healing.  
  
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Frodo would never truly heal. Somewhere deep inside Sam knew that. He was also unhappy now, even though the Shire had once again began to become green with growing things.  
  
The seeds that the Lady Galadriel had given him sprouting well and lighting up the desolate area which was once so beautiful and would soon be again.  
  
Sam smiled at his Rosie. He had decided life was too short to waste idly daydreaming of the fair lass that had captured his heart and had wooed and married her.  
  
Elanor, their daughter was crying to be fed. Smiling gently and with a fatherly love, he handed the squirming baby over to Rosie to feed.  
  
Sam then went outside to tend his garden. Frodo was outside staring forlornly out into the distance. Sam found something strange in the look in his eyes as he stared off to the west.  
  
The look reminded him fiercely of Legolas whenever the Sea Longing was strong in the Elf's mind.  
  
"Frodo?" He called out, seeing the look in his dear friend's eyes.  
  
"Yes Sam?" Came the sullen reply as Frodo turned those hurt-filled eyes in his direction.  
  
"Are you feeling alright? You have not been yourself of late." Sam gently laid a hand on Frodo's shoulder, squeezing it affectionately.  
  
Frodo's smile brightened the day for Sam. It was a pure smile, one he hadn't seen since the time Frodo had found out that Gandalf was alive and well. For the first time in a long while, the smile had reached all the way to his eyes.  
  
"I'll be fine Sam." Frodo replied, placing one of his own hands over that of his ever loyal friend and Gardener.  
  
For the time being, Sam believed him. He knew though that soon it would not be so. It was all a game, one that could only end in heartache for the two good friends. For the entire Shire...For the friends they had made from all the goodly races.  
  
Somehow, he knew deep in his heart that regardless of where Frodo's choices led him, it would be the right one.  
  
That made all the troubles both were feeling seem worth it. If Frodo could once again find his peace of mind, Sam would not deny him.  
  
Whatever choices the future held, they would be the right ones.  
  
Wherever the game of life led them, they will willingly go.  
  
The End  
  
A/N - This is the answer to the challenge I was given from Marigold. It was to write a fic that was to do with the Hobbit's and a game. The game could be anything. Taking this literally, I went for the game of life. Also of war, though this is more in metaphor.  
  
If you have read this far, I hope you enjoyed my tale.  
  
SilverWolf. 


End file.
